Best Place to Miss the Ferry

Rosenblum Cellars

Nothing beats a refreshing jaunt on the ferry across the Bay from
Alameda to San Francisco, especially on a sun-drenched weekend day.
What makes the excursion even better, however, is a quick stop at
Alameda's Rosenblum Winery and tasting room, almost too conveniently
located just a few hundred feet from the ferry dock inside an old
railroad building. The upstairs tasting room is staffed by a crew of
friendly wine aficionados who are more than willing to impart their
share of extensive wine knowledge to visitors as well as happily doling
hearty doses from the tasting menu (the first four to five wines are
free; $8 will get you a complete tasting, including their selected
reserves). Everything from its sweet Viogniers to its hearty, robust
reds that swell with flavor (founder Kent Rosenblum is noted for
helping foster the popularity of the Zinfandel varietal in California
in the 1970s) is veritably palate-pleasing. Grapes are harvested and
shipped from Napa, Sonoma, Monterey, Paso Robles, and Amador County
(and beyond) and sorted, yeasted, fermented, and extracted in small
batches on site. So you missed the ferry. So what? After a half-hour at
Rosenblum, you may forget why (or where) you were going in the first
place.